On the weekends I like dessert for
breakfast. Sure, an omelette or bacon and eggs can be satisfying. But really I
want blueberry pancakes with real, rich maple syrup or baked brioche French
toast with raisins and pecans (really a bread pudding!). Even better would be a
piece of fruit pie from dessert the night before. —
In my house these days cereal,
peanut butter toast, bagels, and oatmeal are for weekdays. On the weekends I
try to make something a bit special for breakfast, maybe a batch of muffins,
perhaps a fruit and yogurt smoothie. Last weekend I made some basic muffin
batter and used half of it for six blueberry muffins on Saturday. I was going
to make more muffins on Sunday, but I decided to mix it up a bit and bake a
strawberry coffeecake. I added sliced strawberries to the batter and poured it
into a greased baking pan. To up the sweetness and crunch I topped the batter
with some leftover streusel I had in the freezer from another recipe.
The result was a super-tender
(thank you buttermilk), sweet, and crunchy breakfast treat. If you can’t find
good strawberries anymore, blueberries would be delicious as well. And if you
don’t feel like making a streusel you could replace the vanilla extract in the batter with almond
extract and top the cake with toasted almond slivers.
STRAWBERRY COFFEE CAKE
Serves 4-6
(Adapted from The Joy of Cooking)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup sugar
4 Tablespoons butter, melted and
slightly cooled
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 cups sliced strawberries
canola oil for greasing the pan
streusel or toasted nuts
(optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Grease an 8 X 8 baking pan with canola oil.
2. In a small bowl whisk together
the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together
the egg, buttermilk, sugar, butter, and vanilla extract.
4. Stir the dry ingredients into
the wet ingredients until the dry ingredients are just moistened. The batter
doesn’t need to be perfectly smooth; a few lumps will ensure that the cake is
tender and springy.
5. Pour the batter into the pan,
top with streusel or toasted nuts if using. Bake until the cake is golden brown
and the middle springs back when you gently press it, about 25 minutes. Cool
for 10 minutes and serve.
This recipe makes enough batter
for the coffeecake or six muffins. Double the quantities to make both on
successive days like I did.
— Jenna Helwig, Rosaberry
